    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2004, Book III)]
    [December 3, 2004]
    [Page 3040]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Statement on Signing the Individuals with Disabilities Education
    Improvement Act of 2004
    December 3, 2004

        Today, I have signed into law H.R. 1350, the ``Individuals with
    Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004.'' The Act strengthens
    the ability of the Federal Government to assist States in the education
    of children with disabilities.
        The executive branch shall construe provisions of the Act that
    require taking account of race, culture, gender, age, region,
    socioeconomics, ideology, secularity, and partisan politics, including
    sections 612, 616, 618, 637, 663, 664, and 681 of the Individuals with
    Disabilities Education Act, as enacted by section 101 of the Act, and
    section 177(b)(3) of the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002, as
    enacted by section 201(a)(2) of the Act, in a manner consistent with the
    First Amendment and the requirement of the Due Process Clause of the
    Fifth Amendment to the Constitution to afford equal protection of the
    laws.
        The executive branch shall construe section 615(e)(2)(G) of the
    Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, as enacted by section 101
    of the Act, as establishing a duty for a State to follow the specified
    statutory exclusionary rule only when that duty is a condition of a
    Federal grant or contract accepted by or under the authority of that
    State, as is consistent with the principles governing Federal-State
    relations enunciated by the Supreme Court of the United States in Printz
    v. United States.

                                                              George W. Bush

     The White House,

     December 3, 2004.

    Note: H.R. 1350, approved December 3, was assigned Public Law No. 108-
    446.